Pre-Mixed Cocktails Are Gaining Ground in Bars and Restaurants
High-end bars and restaurants are pouring bottled cocktails, but not all guests love the trend.
The pre-batched Upside Down Dirty Gibson on Dante’s new “Martini Hour” menu: Dolin Blanc, Cinzano 1757 Extra Dry, and Tanqueray gin with pickled onion brine and wormwood.
Photographer: Steve Freihon
Order a martini at the Grill in midtown Manhattan, and a strange thing happens. Instead of reaching for a bottle of gin, the bartender opens a freezer drawer.
Inside resides a selection of variations on the classic cocktail, pre-mixed and funneled into rounded bottles that once housed Hibiki Japanese whisky. There’s a Gibson, a sherry-accented Tuxedo, and a deeper-hued Turf Club made with amber vermouth and Old Tom gin, each on the menu for $20. All the bartender has to do is pour.